Advocates of recreational marijuana planning to see what voters think of full legalization

Saturday

Jan 18, 2014 at 7:37 PMJan 18, 2014 at 11:22 PM

Brian Fraga Herald News Staff Reporter @BfragaHN

Bill Downing was 15 when he first smoked marijuana. Downing said he then had the "instant recognition" that the prohibition against pot, or cannabis as he prefers to call it, was a "huge social injustice."

"I was 15, and I knew it. And now everybody is finally realizing it," said Downing, a 58-year-old insurance broker who is treasurer of Bay State Repeal, a new volunteer organization looking to put a question on the 2016 ballot that will ask Massachusetts voters to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

Downing, who is a Reading resident, and other pro-legalization advocates believe that Bay State residents — who decriminalized small amounts of pot in 2008 and voted for medical marijuana in 2012 — are ready to follow the example of voters in Colorado and Washington state who approved recent ballot measures to legalize recreational pot.

Bay State Repeal plans to place nonbinding referendum questions on local district ballots in this year's state elections to gauge public sentiment and see what language voters would support for the binding final question in 2016. Downing said the group will also run a set of public policy campaigns in 2014 to tout the benefits of legalization.

"We're hoping to have the final legislation written in a certain fashion, in a fashion that we would prefer, of course, but we have learned from past experiences that what we want isn't always what we get because we are not the people who have deep pockets who finance campaigns," Downing said, adding that he hopes the law would allow adults to grow their own marijuana as well as being able to buy it in retail settings.

Observers say the cost of mounting a petition drive to put the question on the ballot, and then to build public support through advertisement campaigns and other outreach activities, could run up to $5 million. As a result, well-financed groups outside Massachusetts are joining the legalization effort, including the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, an organization that was the largest financial backer of the Colorado ballot drive.

"Just qualifying a (ballot) initiative is a very expensive endeavor," said Mason Tvert, the communications director the Marijuana Policy Project. Tvert declined to place a dollar amount on the campaign, only saying that his group intends to support a legalization measure in Massachusetts for the 2016 elections.

"We plan on having an inclusive drafting process like what we had in Colorado that will include local and national organizations, businesses, activists, medical marijuana patients and other stakeholders among others," said Tvert, a Denver resident who has seen firsthand the effects of marijuana legalization in Colorado, where published reports indicate that some shops there have been running out of recreational pot because of brisk sales.

"The system here is moving forward very smoothly," Tvert said. "People in this state have been buying marijuana for a long time, but now they're simply buying it from legitimate tax-paying businesses, instead of the underground market."

Recent polling shows that voters nationwide, especially young adults ages 18 to 25, are trending toward marijuana legalization. A recent Gallup Poll found a 58 percent approval rating for legalization, which marks a 10-percent increase since Colorado and Washington state voted to legalize pot in 2012. Gallup said the momentum in favor of legalization "shows no sign of abating."

Whether voters in Massachusetts are willing to take the leap to full-scale legalization remains to be seen.

"Certainly there is a Yankee, Puritan mentality that is still persistent in Massachusetts," said Shannon Jenkins, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Jenkins said Massachusetts has many large segments of working-class, "Dunkin' Donut Democrats" who are not as socially liberal as the electorate in western states like Colorado, which have more of a libertarian streak. The political culture in the Bay State, Jenkins said, also includes a mentality where many communities, drawing on multiple generations of experience, resist novelties like legal marijuana.

"There is some degree of reluctance to change in Massachusetts, despite the fact that people see us as the most liberal state in the union," Jenkins said. "That view does not reflect a deep understanding of Massachusetts politics."

Legalization advocates hope that a marijuana ballot initiative will mobilize more voters, especially young adults, to the polls, but Jenkins said she does not believe that marijuana activates a voter base in the same manner that a controversial ballot question on abortion or same-sex marriage would.

"It might have some marginal effects, maybe on younger voters, who have lower turnout rates," Jenkins said, "But I don't see it as being huge factor."

Meanwhile, skeptical observers, stakeholders and lawmakers who believe marijuana poses health risks, especially for teens, and can still be a dangerous gateway to more dangerous drugs like cocaine and heroin, hope the legalization effort stalls in the Bay State.

"We need medical marijuana like we need a hole in the head," said state Rep. Alan Silvia of Fall River, a retired police officer and member of the state Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security. Silvia, who opposed the 2010 ballot measure that legalized medical marijuana, dismissed the argument that legal pot will generate tax revenue as a baseless "carrot." He also said smoking marijuana is still an unhealthy activity.

"We hear so much about how smoking cigarettes is bad for you and causes cancer. Well, it's bad to smoke cigarettes, but it's not bad to smoke cannabis? Come on," Silvia said.

Tom Pasternak, 68, a Fall River pharmacist and chairman of the BOLD Coalition, a Fall River-based collaborative aimed at curbing substance abuse in the community, said marijuana legalization should not be on the ballot.

"Ballot questions usually only get passed by people who have the most money and have the most personal opinions, rather than opinions based on facts," Pasternak said. "I believe we elect officials to make good decisions. Ballot questions may be the will of the people, but they are not necessarily good decisions."

Pasternak also said he believes marijuana is a gateway drug and added that he has seen more people addicted to Oxycodone and Suboxone since those legal prescription drugs entered the market.

"I don't think (legal marijuana) is the answer," Pasternak said. "I just don't see any common good coming from this, except recreation."

Pro-legalization advocates compare the current criminalization of marijuana to the failed prohibition of alcohol during the 1920s. They also counter the argument that legalizing pot will mean more people, especially teenagers, toking up by noting that people today can buy marijuana pretty easily.

"In fact, the system we have now poses more harm to teens than a system where you would actually know who's selling (marijuana), where they are selling it, and to whom, and we can ensure that (retailers) are asking for ID," Tvert, of the Marijuana Policy Project, said. Tvert also argued that legalizing pot will eliminate the black market.

"There's a reason why we don't see cartels trafficking alcohol throughout the country," Tvert said. "By regulating marijuana, we can put sales behind counters of legitimate businesses and put the money out of the hands of criminal enterprises."

When a city or state legalizes marijuana, law enforcement agencies are put in an awkward position because the federal government still classifies marijuana as an illegal Schedule I drug. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 prohibits the possession, use, purchase and sale of marijuana because of its high potential for abuse.

For now, the U.S. Department of Justice is taking a hands-off approach to jurisdictions that regulate and legalize marijuana. The federal government says it will focus its efforts on keeping marijuana from minors, preventing marijuana proceeds from reaching drug cartels and ensuring public safety.

Even if marijuana were legalized in Massachusetts, it would not give legal cover to everyone — especially federal government employees — to smoke pot. New Bedford police Chief David Provencher said he would not tolerate his officers smoking marijuana on their own time.

"In much the same way I don't want officers on the streets who have been drinking, I sure as hell don't want officers who have marijuana in their system," Provencher said. "In terms of employment, my sense is that you can make a choice. You can get high, or be a cop. You can't do both."

Downing, the treasurer of Bay State Repeal, believes most law enforcement opposition to marijuana is rooted in "embarrassment" over the failed efforts to stop marijuana consumption. If all goes according to plan, Downing hopes to smoke cannabis legally in early January 2017.

"Jan. 1, (2017)" Downing said, "is when the seed takes the soil."

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